People walk across the polo grounds near the Palm-3 World Station art installation, by Simon Vega, during day two of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 14, 2018. (Photo by Matt Masin, Contributing Photographer)

Between the music, incomparable people-watching and art installations that dominate the vistas at this remote desert event, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has always been an immersive experience for fans.

The 2018 commissioned art includes pieces to contemplate, pieces to walk through and, uniquely, three pieces that blend the physical and virtual worlds.

Artists Katie Stout and Adam Ferriss created “augmented reality” mobile applications that let people draw and create Polaroid-like pictures or explore a fantasy undersea world using their phones.

Digital art may not always get the same respect as more traditional works, but Ferriss said he sees it “as kind of part of the wider world of art – it can coexist peacefully with paintings and be just fine.”

The festival lineup was an array of electronic dance music, hip hop, alternative R & B, indie rock and a blockbuster Saturday night set by pop princess Beyoncé that kept tens of thousands of fans mesmerized.

Perhaps more than previous years’ festivals, the 2018 art aims to create ever-changing interactions between the fans and the spectacle that are no less memorable for being short-lived.

For artist Edoardo Tresoldi, who created the piece “Etherea,” the experience of Coachella – like most of its art – “lives only in this moment. When they finish the festival, this city disappears.”

For some fans, discovering new art is a major reason to attend the event, which takes place in Indio over two weekends.

“I feel like the art is always one of my favorite parts of Coachella,” said Sara Ludovise, 34, of Dana Point.

While trying out Stout’s virtual world, called “Display This Oasis,” on Saturday, Ludovise said, “It’s cool that they’re experimenting with this this year.”

Though the experience of Coachella’s art, and access to the augmented reality pieces, is limited to the festival’s six-day run, the memories will be preserved in the myriad photos fans are taking and sharing on social media.

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One of this year’s pieces, the seven-story, rainbow-hued tower titled “Spectra” provides 360-degree views of the festival through windows tinted in 31 colors. Mungo Denison, projects director for the British firm Newsubstance that designed “Spectra,” likened the colored windows to Instagram filters that let users customize their photos.

Passing the different windows in the tower is akin to being at the festival, Denison said – “Everybody’s experience will be slightly different.”

Here’s a look at this year’s art installations:

ETHEREA

Artist Edoardo Tresoldi’s composition, made of 11,000 square meters of wire mesh, consists of three copies of the same classical-style building in graduated sizes. It exists and yet seems almost not to, as if drawn by an architect’s pencil on the air, or like a tangible recollection of a structure that has since been demolished.

Tresoldi, 30, of Milan, Italy, said his work explores “the relationship between the human being and the landscape,” and for Coachella he wanted “to create something that people can play with.”

The sun sets behind Edoardo Tresoldi’s wire-mesh sculpture Etherea during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Saturday, April 14, 2018. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Edoardo Tresoldi poses next to his wire-mesh sculpture Etherea during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Saturday, April 14, 2018. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Jeniya Penrod, 34, of Miami, poses inside Edoardo Tresoldi’s wire-mesh sculpture Etherea as the sun sets during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Saturday, April 14, 2018. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Tyler Lockney takes a tour inside Etherea art sculpture during Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club, in Indio, Calif. on Friday, April 13, 2018. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Andrea Di Carlo, 37, of Rome, center, stands outside his friend Edoardo Tresoldi’s wire-mesh sculpture Etherea during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Saturday, April 14, 2018. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A fan enjoys herself inside Edoardo Tresoldi wire-mesh sculpture Etherea during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Saturday, April 14, 2018. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Kevin Velasco, 19, and Morgan Rey, 21, both of Rancho Cucamonga, view the Etherea sculpture during Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club, in Indio, Calif. on Friday, April 13, 2018. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

A seven-story observation tower with windows in all colors of the rainbow, Spectra can be seen from nearly anywhere on the grounds of the desert festival, and stepping inside provides panoramic views and a respite from the heat since it’s air conditioned.

NEWSUBSTANCE, the British firm that designed “Spectra,” transported the structural steel and acrylic window panels by ship, plane and train and assembled them on site, a process that began March 20 and ended hours before the festival gates opened Friday.

At night, more than 6,000 feet of LED tape lights up the structure, silhouetting the viewers inside.

A festival goer takes a photo from “Spectra” by NEWSUBSTANCE during the first day of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 13, 2018. (Photo by Matt Masin, Contributing Photographer)

Festival goers experience “Spectra,” by NEWSUBSTANCE, at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA., Friday, April 13, 2018. (Staff photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

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People walk through Spectra art installation as the polo field is reflected during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club, in Indio, Calif. on Friday, April 13, 2018. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Katie Kakes, 29, left, and Zack Ziegler, 23, take their selfie inside the Spectra art installation during Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club, in Indio, Calif. on Friday, April 13, 2018. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

A festival goer walks up Spectra art installation during Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club, in Indio, Calif. on Friday, April 13, 2018. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Spectra, by NEWSUBSTANCE, is seen with the ferris wheel at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA., Friday, April 13, 2018. (Staff photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

The multi-colored, many-pointed star made of wood and metal sheeting is 40 feet in diameter and painted in pastel orange, yellow and blue.

In 2016, they brought the festival a wall of flowers that spelled out “Besame Mucho,” or “kiss me a lot” in Spanish, which proved a popular backdrop for fans’ photos.

This year’s installation has no relation to “Besame Mucho,” but it was made in the same spirit, “because it’s a project that brings people together” and speaks to humanity’s common future, Behar said in a phone interview.

Festival goers pose in front of the SUPERNOVA art installation, by Roberto Behar and Rosario Marquardt (R & R Studios), during day 2 of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA., Saturday, April 14, 2018. (Staff photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

People walk under SUPERNOVA by Roberto Behar and Rosario Marquardt during the second day of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 14, 2018. (Photo by Matt Masin, Contributing Photographer)

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The sun shines down on Supernova by Roberto Behar and Roasrio Marquardt (R&R Studios) during the first day of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 13, 2018. (Photo by Matt Masin, Contributing Photographer)

This towering piece grows from a jet fuselage that artist Randy Polumbo repurposed. It balances on its nose and two wing-like projections, and the skyward-pointed tail is peeled open and topped with a skeletal flying saucer-like object.

Dangling spheres that look like misshapen disco balls flash as they catch the light. Multi-colored hand-blown glass bulbs bloom near the top of the sculpture.

That was part of what drew festival-goer Jen Avalos, 21, of Phoenix, to it. She and Andy Wenker, 26, also of Phoenix, were contemplating Lodestar on Saturday.

“I think the one that captured my attention is the colored bulbs. They look like cute little aliens,” Avalos said.

Lodestar art installation lights up at dusk during Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club, in Indio, Calif. on Friday, April 13, 2018. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Based on the Soviet space station Mir, the piece’s components capture the atmosphere of shanty towns in El Salvador, where Vega is from. Materials that look scavenged are combined with scenes that represent people in “happy poverty” but also highlight economic inequality, according to festival information.

Plam-3 World Station during Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club, in Indio, Calif. on Friday, April 13, 2018. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Festival-goers take a break underneath the Palm-3 World Station during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club, in Indio, Calif. on Friday, April 13, 2018. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

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Palm-3 World Station art installation during Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club, in Indio, Calif. on Saturday, April 14, 2018. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Festival goers stand before the Palm-3 World Station art installation, by Simon Vega, during day 2 of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA., Saturday, April 14, 2018. (Staff photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Brooklyn artist Katie Stout developed “Display This Oasis,” which she designed to include a translucent virtual sculpture, colored, kelp-like streamers that flow upward from the ground, Stonehenge-like stacks of rocks and other items that appear on the user’s phone screen.

“What I’m hoping for is that it feels like you’re in the ocean walking on the floor of the sea, like you’re a little piece of plankton,” Stout said in a phone interview.

Adam Ferriss, a Los Angeles-based artist who taught himself coding, created two apps – Meta and Ditto – that festival goers can play with. Meta creates Polaroid-style frames in a desert color palette for users’ photos, and Ditto lets them draw virtual ribbons on the festival grounds.

Ferriss won’t be able to attend this year’s festival, he said in a phone interview, but he’s excited to learn how fans react to his work and will be looking on social media to see how they’ve used it.

“That’s the hope is that I’ll see people posting it. That’s what you always want is for people to use the thing you’ve made,” he said.

Alicia Robinson covers cities and local government for the Orange County Register. She has also reported at the Press-Enterprise in Riverside, the Daily Pilot in Costa Mesa, and at small daily and weekly papers in the midwest, before she became an honorary Californian based on hours spent in traffic. Besides government and policy, she's interested in animals both wild and domestic, people who try to make the world better, and how things work.